Starmer: ‘unforgivable’ and ‘staggering’ I wasn’t told Mandelson was denied security clearance
The prime minister has spoken to reporters in Paris this morning, saying it is “unforgivable” and “staggering” he wasn’t told Peter Mandelson was denied security clearance.
He said:
That I wasn’t told that he’d failed security vetting when I was telling parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable.
Not only was I not told, no minister was told and I’m absolutely furious about it.
Keir Starmer added:
It is totally unacceptable that the prime minister making an appointment is not told that security vetting has been failed.
He added he will “set out all the relevant facts in true transparency” to parliament on Monday.
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He said:
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That I wasn’t told that he’d failed security vetting when I was telling parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable.
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Not only was I not told, no minister was told and I’m absolutely furious about it.
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Keir Starmer added:
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It is totally unacceptable that the prime minister making an appointment is not told that security vetting has been failed.
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He added he will “set out all the relevant facts in true transparency” to parliament on Monday.
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Starmer, right, picture with French president Emmanuel Macron on Friday morning”,”caption”:”Keir Starmer, right, picture with French president Emmanuel Macron on Friday morning”,”credit”:”Photograph: Benoît Tessier/Reuters”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:true,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1776420348000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”06.05 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1776429046000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”08.30 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1776420564000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”06.09 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”06.09″,”title”:”Starmer: ‘unforgivable’ and ‘staggering’ I wasn’t told Mandelson was denied security clearance”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Fri 17 Apr 2026 09.38 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Fri 17 Apr 2026 02.27 EDT”},{“id”:”69e1fa568f0802e30ef2df1e”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has called on the prime minister to “do the right thing” and resign.
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Keir Starmer has faced more pressure to quit after it was revealed that the Foreign Office overruled a recommendation not to clear Peter Mandelson to be the UK ambassador to the US.
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While the prime minister is said to be “furious” at the decision and the Foreign Office’s top civil servant Olly Robbins was effectively fired, the prime minister remains in the hot seat.
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“The resignation of Olly Robbins does not get the prime minister off the hook – it only raises more questions,” the SNP’s Westminster leader said.
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“Keir Starmer has run out of excuses, and fall guys, to blame for his own bad judgment and incompetence. He should do the decent thing and resign – before he is forced out.”
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MP for Aberdeen South Stephen Flynn”,”caption”:”SNP MP for Aberdeen South Stephen Flynn”,”credit”:”Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1776417366000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”05.16 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1776418905000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”05.41 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1776418210000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”05.30 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”05.30″,”title”:”‘Do the right and resign’ SNP’s Flynn urges Starmer”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Fri 17 Apr 2026 09.38 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Fri 17 Apr 2026 02.27 EDT”},{“id”:”69e1f4e78f089afd529563ee”,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott has said “nobody believes that the prime minister” was not aware of Peter Mandelson’s failed vetting.
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Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance but the decision was overruled by the Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post as ambassador to the US, an investigation by the Guardian revealed last night.
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According to multiple sources, Mandelson was initially denied clearance in late January 2025 after a developed vetting process, a highly confidential background check by security officials.
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Abbott told Sky News:
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It’s just not possible that No 10 didn’t know. And I think to try and pretend No 10 didn’t know, when anybody who follows those issues would know that that can’t be true, is the kind of thing that undermines people’s faith in politics.
\n
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She added that Starmer should “consider his position” and said:
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It’s always been the process that if you mislead the House, you have to step down.
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Abbott arrives at Hackney Town Hall to cheers from her supporters on May 29, 2024 in London, England.”,”caption”:”Diane Abbott arrives at Hackney Town Hall to cheers from her supporters on May 29, 2024 in London, England. “,”credit”:”Photograph: Guy Smallman/Getty Images”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1776415975000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”04.52 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1776417977000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”05.26 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1776416501000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”05.01 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”05.01″,”title”:”‘Nobody believes PM’ not aware of failed vetting, says Abbott”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Fri 17 Apr 2026 09.38 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Fri 17 Apr 2026 02.27 EDT”},{“id”:”69e1e7ea8f089afd52956394″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The Guardian understands that Yvette Cooper and her office only became aware that Peter Mandelson had failed security vetting when the newspaper broke the story on Thursday.
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The foreign secretary spent the evening in the department and Downing Street with the prime minister where she spoke to Sir Olly Robbins. They concluded that he could no longer continue in post.
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Crerar”,”imageUrl”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2022/10/06/Pippa_Crerar_.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=7279a3b1b70f1ad143e1f25984f7837b”,”largeImageUrl”:”https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2022/10/06/Pippa_Crerar_Next_Gen.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=69dfaea79a0d53d5edb6efae832af817″}],”primaryDateLine”:”Fri 17 Apr 2026 09.38 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Fri 17 Apr 2026 02.27 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of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch in central Edinburgh yesterday”,”caption”:”Leader of the Opposition Kemi Badenoch in central Edinburgh yesterday”,”credit”:”Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian”}},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservatives, has told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that she believes the prime minister is lying in his account of what happened.
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It’s completely preposterous for us to believe that when the prime minister said on the floor of the house [of Commons] the full due process was followed that officials who knew that was not the case would not have told him. He knew.
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It is preposterous for us to believe that on 5 February, him giving press conference saying that Mandelson was cleared by the security services nobody told him that actually that this was not the case.
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It’s completely preposterious, the prime minister, the former chief prosecutor, did not ask basic questions, did not ask to look at the security vetting himself.
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It’s also completely preposterous that civil servants would have cleared a political appointee who had failed security vetting. Mandelson was not a mandarin he was a Labour party grandee appointed to be our most senior diplomat and ambassador.
\n
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Badenoch added that is not believable that the documents had not been seen by parliament
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We would not have found out about this if not for the Guardian.
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The story does not stack up, the prime minister is taking us for fools.
\n
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With the prime minister in Paris for talks on the opening of the strait of Hormuz, his chief secretary, Darren Jones, has been taking flak for the Mandelson vetting revelations on the morning media rounds.
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Jones has told broadcasters the Foreign Office’s decision to overrule the security vetting findings was “utterly unacceptable”
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He said he had ordered an urgent review after discovering that the Foreign Office and other Government departments have the right to ignore security advice when appointing people to sensitive roles.
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He told Sky News:
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It is utterly unacceptable, not just in the individual case of Peter Mandelson and respect of the prime minister’s fury at the Foreign Office for not having taught him this information, but the very fact that their processes were in place that allow for that to happen in the first place.
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That’s why in my role in the Cabinet Office, immediately last night, I suspended the rights for these organisations to make these judgments.
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I’ve asked for an urgent review about what decisions these organisations have taken in the past to overrule the recommendations from UK security vetting, and I was due to announce a broader, independent review of the vetting process anyway. And this will now be part of that.
\n
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Earlier on ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme, Jones said he had suspended the rights of the Foreign Office to overrule security vetting recommendations. He said:
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As soon as I found out last night that the Foreign Office and a small number of other organisations have the right to ignore the recommendation… I immediately suspended those rights and ordered an urgent audit.
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The story about Mandelson’s vetting moved quickly overnight so here are the key developments you need to know about:
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Yesterday evening, the Guardian exclusively revealed Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance but the decision was overruled by the Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post as ambassador to the US. According to multiple sources, Mandelson was initially denied clearance in late January 2025 after a developed vetting process, a highly confidential background check by security officials. Keir Starmer had by then announced he would be making Mandelson the UK’s chief diplomat in Washington, posing a dilemma for officials at the Foreign Office, who decided to use a rarely used authority to override the recommendation from security officials.
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The Guardian also revealed that senior government officials have been considering whether to withhold from parliament sensitive documents that show Mandelson failed the security vetting checks. Any such decision could amount to an extraordinary breach of a parliamentary vote, known as a humble address, that ordered the release of “all papers” relevant to Mandelson’s appointment. According to multiple sources, officials across government have been in dispute over whether to release documents that would reveal those facts, and other information about Mandelson’s security vetting, to the parliamentary intelligence and security committee (ISC).
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The Guardian understands that Starmer – who insiders said was furious – first learned that Mandelson had failed security vetting on Tuesday this week, while then foreign secretary David Lammy learned about it when the Guardian broke the story two days later. Late on Thursday, Sir Olly Robbins, the UK Foreign Office’s top civil servant, has been forced out of his post over the decision. Robbins was the Foreign Office’s most senior official in late January 2025 when the decision was made, paving the way for Mandelson to become the US ambassador.
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Good morning and welcome to the UK politics blog amid the revelation that Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance but the decision was overruled by the Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post as ambassador to the US.
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Sir Olly Robbins, the UK Foreign Office’s top civil servant, has already been forced out of his post overnight and there are calls from opposition parties for the prime minister himself to resign.
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Keir Starmer is in Paris to chair a gathering of world leaders on the opening of the Strait of Hormuz as the revelations sink in in Westminster and Whitehall.
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Stay with us for all the developments and reaction.
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Key events
Libby Brooks
The Lib Dems are in buoyant mood, with polls suggesting their best Holyrood results for years and the party targeting ten constituencies as well as encouraging voters to go for them on the peach regional ballot too – this Holyrood election is more unpredictable than most but it’s feasible that this party could play a role in keeping the SNP out of power if it does a deal with Labour.
They launched their manifesto this morning including commitments on improving NHS access, especially for mental ill health, changes to early years schools to have play-based learning until the age of 7, like in Finland, and more support for children with ASN.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton insisted there was “no pact or alliance with Labour” – to some laughter in the room given the ongoing row about whether Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar suggested to Reform’s Scottish leader Malcolm Offord they work together to beat the SNP. But his message was clear that after May 7 he’d be open to discussion.
Cole-Hamilton said: “The one thing I share with Anas is a desire for change and the biggest change that Scotland needs is a change of government. And of course, if there’s an opportunity to unseat the SNP – who need to lose power, who need a period of quiet reflection on the opposition benches of this parliament – [with a party that] which shares our values, then of course we will look at that seriously”.
It’s something the Scottish public are already thinking about – recent polling shows that 32% of the Scottish public would be happy to see the Liberal Democrats having influence over the Scottish government, the most popular of all the smaller parties.
Jamie Grierson
The exit of the top civil servant Olly Robbins from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the latest departure of an official or minister under Keir Starmer’s two-year tenure as prime minister.
Here we take a look at some of the most high-profile resignations since Starmer came to power.
Keir Starmer believes Parliament had a right to know Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting, the prime minister’s spokesperson said.
Asked if Starmer had misled MPs, they said:
He’s very clear that Parliament had a right to know this, and indeed that he had a right to know this, and that it’s completely staggering that UK security vetting recommended against the developed vetting security clearance for Peter Mandelson and that he was not told, the foreign secretary was not told and as a result Parliament was not told.
The Liberal Democrats have asked Keir Starmer’s ethics adviser to investigate the Prime Minister for failing to tell Parliament Peter Mandelson had failed his security vetting as soon as he became aware.
In a letter to Laurie Magnus, Lib Dem frontbencher Lisa Smart said the prime minister “appears to have failed in his obligation to correct inadvertent errors ‘at the earliest opportunity’”, as required by the ministerial code.
In a separate statement issued by the Lib Dems, Smart said:
The Prime Minister failed to tell Parliament that he knew Mandelson had been denied vetting on Wednesday, presumably crossing his fingers and hoping the truth would not come out. What a shameful way for a Prime Minister to behave.
To stand in front of the dispatch box and deny Parliament such crucial information looks like a serious breach of ministerial code. That’s why I’ve written to the ethics adviser to report this breach and ask him to investigate at the earliest opportunity.
Starmer made catastrophic errors of judgment from the very beginning of the Mandelson scandal and it seems he has just kept on making them. His position is now untenable.
Downing Street has said it does not accept that the Foreign Office felt pressure to overrule UK Security Vetting’s recommendation against Mandelson receiving developed vetting clearance.
Asked whether Number 10 would accept that the FCDO felt pressured over the appointment, a Downing Street spokesman said:
No. The security vetting process that the Foreign Office led obviously took place following the appointment, as is often the case in these appointments, but at no point – the Prime Minister has said he finds it completely staggering that at no point in that vetting process the fact that UK Security Vetting had recommended against providing Peter Mandelson developed vetting was ever communicated to Number 10.
Downing Street insisted that nobody in Number 10 was told that Lord Peter Mandelson had failed his security vetting despite repeated requests for “assurances”.
A Downing Street spokesman said:
Nobody in Number 10, officials or otherwise, had this information.
He added:
The Foreign Office have run this vetting process, and at no point, at any point in any part of this process was anyone in Number 10, PM or otherwise, informed by the Foreign Office that the recommendation of UK Security Vetting was for him not to pass his developed vetting.
Number 10 has, as you would expect, been repeatedly asking for assurances on the facts of this case, including the vetting, and at no point in that process was Number 10 told about security vetting recommending against his vetting.
Parliament had “a right to know” that Peter Mandelson had failed his security vetting, Downing Street has said.
Asked whether Keir Starmer had misled Parliament over Lord Mandelson’s vetting, a Downing Street spokesman said:
He’s very clear that Parliament had a right to know this, and indeed that he had a right to know this, and that it’s completely staggering that UK Security Vetting recommended against the developed vetting security clearance for Peter Mandelson and that he was not told, the Foreign Secretary was not told and as a result Parliament was not told.
The spokesman would not be drawn on whether Starmer thought he had been misled by the Foreign Office, saying:
He’s said that it’s staggering that he wasn’t told that he’d failed his developed vetting when he was telling Parliament that due process had been followed.
And this is why he has ordered an urgent investigation into how this decision was taken and why he was not informed earlier.
Keir Starmer has said it is ‘staggering’ and ‘unforgivable’ he was not told that Peter Mandelson had failed vetting.
The prime minister was responding to Guardian revelations that Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance but the decision was overruled by the Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post as ambassador to the US.
Olly Robbins, the UK Foreign Office’s top civil servant, has already been forced out of his post overnight and there are calls from opposition parties for the prime minister himself to resign.
Starmer is in Paris to chair a gathering of world leaders on the opening of the strait of Hormuz as the revelations sink in in Westminster and Whitehall.
In other news, police have said they are investigating a security incident near the Israeli embassy in London after officers found a number of discarded items in the area.
A statement said Counter Terrorism Policing London was aware of a video shared online overnight in which a group claimed to have targeted the embassy with drones carrying dangerous substances.
Police said the embassy had not been attacked and urgent inquiries were under way. “We do not believe there to be any increased public safety risk at this stage,” the statement said.
A Labour backbencher has said it “doesn’t sound credible” that Keir Starmer was unaware Peter Mandelson had failed his security vetting.
Veteran MP Jon Trickett said:
It simply doesn’t sound credible for Keir Starmer to claim that he was unaware that Mandelson had been denied security clearance.
If the PM did not know, it raises gravely serious issues about the way we are governed.
Either way, the excuses coming from Downing Street won’t cut it on the doorstep in the run-up to the local elections.
Here are some images of Peter Mandelson walking his dog in London this morning.
He has not publicly commented on his failed security vetting, as revealed by The Guardian last night.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said Downing Street should answer questions in parliament, following the revelations about the vetting of Peter Mandelson.
Speaking as he campaigned in Edinburgh for the Scottish parliament election, Mr Sarwar said the scandal around Mandelson was the “tipping point” which led to his earlier call for Keir Starmer to quit.
Asked if he thought the prime minister had misled parliament, Sarwar told the Press Association:
These are questions that of course have to be answered by Downing Street – in the parliament and also in any appropriate parliamentary committees.
I stated my position back in February, I stand by my position, I don’t recoil from it. And many people will know that the Mandelson scandal was the tipping point for me.
Starmer: ‘unforgivable’ and ‘staggering’ I wasn’t told Mandelson was denied security clearance
The prime minister has spoken to reporters in Paris this morning, saying it is “unforgivable” and “staggering” he wasn’t told Peter Mandelson was denied security clearance.
He said:
That I wasn’t told that he’d failed security vetting when I was telling parliament that due process had been followed is unforgivable.
Not only was I not told, no minister was told and I’m absolutely furious about it.
Keir Starmer added:
It is totally unacceptable that the prime minister making an appointment is not told that security vetting has been failed.
He added he will “set out all the relevant facts in true transparency” to parliament on Monday.
We might have a chance to hear from Keir Starmer directly for the first time since the Guardian’s revelations as he’s just arrived in Paris for talks over reopening the strait of Hormuz.
He will co-host a virtual meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron and then have lunch. Around 40 countries and the International Maritime Organisation are expected to be on the call.
Watch that live here:
Lisa O’Carroll
Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock has insisted that Keir Starmer will not quit over what he described as the Peter Mandelson “horror show”.
“Keir is not going. If we subtract the Mandelson thing over the last day, or the last eons, regardless of the 8 May outcome, it is widely understood that the last thing the Labour party needs is the approach that the party, a party, is more concerned with its own welfare than the condition of the country,” he said.
Speaking at a Best for Britain event unveiling shifting voter sentiment in favour of Labour being more ambitious in relation to its reset with the EU, he said that he believed Starmer would have not have known about the vetting.
“This is a very straight and honest guy who would not have sustained his argument previously for many many months” if he had not told the truth about what he knew about Mandelson’s vetting, he said.
He described the scandal as the “Mandelson horror show”.
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